My Mother painted this picture of my brother back when he wore glasses.

At age 12, I saw him have his eyes examined and thought that it was pretty cool helping people to see.

So I decided, then and there, that this was what I wanted to do.

Looking back, its quite ironic that, at age 12, I decided to devote myself to a career where I would sit in a dark room all day asking the patient whether what they are looking at is better with “1, or, 2?”

Being devoted to one thing from such a young age meant I could focus my attention on other things, like sports. Growing up in Invercargill, where everything is just 5 minutes drive away, I chose to do all the sports.

Getting to Auckland, I wasn’t quite prepared for the demands of University life and by not having the right balance of work and play; I did poorly in my first two mid terms, effectively ruling me out of gaining entry into the School of Optometry.

Every cloud has a silver lining however and two quality years in Otago, taught me how to balance study with play; Working at the famous Captain Cook Tavern and playing Rugby at the mighty University Rugby Club.

Oh and while I was there I learnt about; anatomy, physiology and biochemistry, I dabbled in zoology and nutrition and they tried to teach me genetics.

Getting the balance right this time, I graduated with a bachelors of Science and was back to Auckland for four more years.

After that time, I become proficient enough, through a series of confusing questions, to help people to see clearly again. Qualifying me to sit in that dark room all day.

Optometry however is less about helping people to see and more about preventing people from not seeing (Yes, I do have Irish heritage).

You see (Pun intended) the eye is simply an organ. An organ that performs cellular functions. Functions that are supported by a blood supply and a flow of nutrients.

As Optometrists we are lucky enough to visualise the only organ in the body where you can directly see the vascular system.

This is actually my girlfriend Alex’s eye and unfortunately a large number of my patients eyes don’t look this good, but I might be biased.

Looking at the eye you can see the effects of medications, blood pressure, cholesterol deposition from inflamed vessels and diabetes.

Here’s why seeing that day in day out breaks my heart and why I try to learn as much as I can about metabolic disease and share it with my patients, their families and their GPs.

This Horse is Kelly Evander. After over 160 starts whilst getting a few second placing’s, she failed to win a single race, it’s a New Zealand record. She was owned and trained by my grandpa. I think I might have inherited some of that bloody-minded determination from him. Unfortunately, in my final year of University, my Grandpa passed away from type 2 diabetes.

Like many with the condition, my grandpa believed that like the knee, shoulder and back surgeries had fixed his joints; his diabetes medicine was fixing his condition.

Unfortunately in the case of type 2 diabetes, as with many of our modern day chronic diseases, the medications treat the symptoms of the condition rather than the cause.

A type 2 diabetic may spend up to 10 hours a week on average dealing with the process of their disease, whether that’s taking medication, monitoring their blood sugar, visiting their GP every 3 months, having retinal photos taken, to seeing an orthopaedic surgeon for amputation or having dialysis treatment.

Hardly good quality of life.

So what do I tell my patients? As a disclaimer: As was the case with the two examples, please always work with your health professional or primary carer when making any drastic dietary changes. Especially if taking insulin or insulin promoting medications.

There’s a saying in health to treat your patient how you would treat your own grandma or grandpa.

For me this is quite easy; Both my Gran and Grandpa have polymyalgia, high blood pressure, glaucoma and have had cataracts removed, my gran has also had heart surgery, my grandma has dry eyes and as mentioned my grandpa died of type 2 diabetes. So yeah, I have good genes.

According to Canadian Nephrologist or Kidney Specialist: Dr Jason Fung, type 2 diabetes is a disease state of insulin resistance.

Insulin acts like a key to our cells, which allows sugar from our food to pass from the blood into the cells, to be used as energy.

These help to support your hard working liver which is dealing with increased circulating blood sugar and insulin, cholesterol synthesis and not to mention your medications.

Thirdly: exercise does matter, it uses stored glucose in your muscles called glycogen, meaning the muscle wants to replace this stored energy, so the body becomes more sensitive to insulin following exercise.

Finally they turn their patients into fat burning machines. Their patients use stored body fat and healthy fats from the likes of fish, avocado, red meat, coconut oil, nuts and seeds and yes butter on a ketogenic diet.

From the Japanese word for ‘chit chat’ Pecha Kucha celebrates the unique stories we all have to tell.
Pecha Kucha Nights give a platform to a wide range of people, to speak on a diversity of topics. The model sees presenters define their own topic, with each having just 20 seconds for each of their 20 images. Embraced around the globe; from Tel Aviv to London, Toyko to Berlin, Pecha Kucha events connect people, fuel conversation & inspire thinking with topics ranging from the intellectual to the sublime to the hilarious.

]]>https://stagryan.com/2018/02/09/korero-my-pechakucha/feed/026757161_1814288801914762_1158428641801826117_ostagryanIMG_0754IMG_0850Auckland-School-of-Medicine-Boyle-Building-15a-1030x677Peter Matt Matt John Me Sam JoshArchwayvisiometre-ophtalmologie-phoropter-soins-yeuxPole_Alexandra_OD2015_58146_1_rgbsakit-mata15Iphone 031brian_o_connor_with_his_beloved_mare_kelly_evander_519209b53ba7f8cec9-3aba-4c45-9590-9a5669fe6fc6adultobesitygraphFamily Marks 21stJason-Fung-A-Disease-of-Insulin-Resistance-Part-4-Diabetes-course-400x225Door lockedquote-i-ve-been-putting-out-the-fire-with-gasoline-david-bowie-99-86-70Screen Shot 2018-02-08 at 11.17.44 PMIMG_0927Millennium-Park-051913IMG_7709Whēkau- Gut Healthhttps://stagryan.com/2018/01/14/whekau-gut-health/
https://stagryan.com/2018/01/14/whekau-gut-health/#respondSun, 14 Jan 2018 04:34:36 +0000http://stagryan.com/?p=1549Anybody who knows me or follows my instagram knows that health is a huge priority of mine. Health to me comes in many aspects, the food I eat, the amount I move and the thoughts I have. Of late from listening to podcasts, reading a wide variety of articles and attending seminars with Ben Warren and Dr Libby, the importance of gut health and what affects the gut have moved further and further to the top of my consciousness.

A little back ground on my personal health adventures; I’m from the wheetbix/cornflakes/rice bubbles generation, growing up with two brothers, all of us ravenous, as they were busy rowing and I was busy swimming, playing soccer, waterpolo and volleyball, meant options for our parents were sandwiches, toast or more cereals.

Thankfully as a child I was sick probably once a year some times less and so my antibiotics load as a child and teenager were relatively low. Argue all you like around vaccines and associations with various things, but I was vaccinated as a child, teenager, and again as part of my requirements to see patients as an optometrist, and no I did not have adverse events thank you for your concern, more on this later.

University was where my health began to take a turn, a few clear associations were excessive binge drinking, often multiple times a week, high levels of sleep deprivation (cue often falling asleep in lectures or at my desk studying), high levels of stress, and a poor diet of high carbohydrates, packets and packets of mi goreng noodles and a severe lack of green leafy vegetables.

The result of poor habits for 5 of the 7 years of university lead to glandular fever, severe tonsillitis and bronchitis from strep throat (cue antibiotics), excruciating gut cramps when exercising, myochemia (uncontrollable eye twitching) for the last 6 months of my degree, an inability to get to sleep at nights despite being exhausted and looking back on things despite making my way through my dream career, training and enjoying a great time in my flat and in my sport I was borderline depressed. I am very thankful for having purpose, exercise and a great group of mates at this point in my life or else who knows what could have happened.

So where does that leave me today…? Since finishing my uni days and working, I have consistently been working on myself and tying to identify who I am. This has lead me to explore psychotherapy, floating and reading a number of books and blogs. My training has changed a lot from training to be big and aesthetic to training for longevity (this still means training for muscle mass and to be lean but also mobile and dynamic), a lot of my training is based around the ability to go hunting; this requires you to be able to walk long distances often up still hills and mountains with a pack on your back, be able to control your heart rate should you come across an animal and be able to lift and carry the animal out again. I changed my diet from a grain based carbohydrate diet, to a low carbohydrate, nutrient dense healthy fat based diet, exploring periods of ketogenic eating and fasting.

Despite all this, a few factors weighed on my mind; what was the damage those university years had done? I would still get periods of exhaustion and myochemia, what was causing this? I would have periods of lethargy, loss of grip strength and power. I had general anaesthetic for my hip surgery and when I would get sick, I was very sick- Man Flu is real. Finally at the end of this years rugby season I suffered a severe concussion that was a massive concern for me, I wanted to make sure my energy was back to normal and that the head nock hadn’t literally shaken up my hormonal function.

So after Alex had had such great success at removing endometriosis with her work with Dr Steve, with a baby on the way I thought it was my time to clear things up.

Dr Steve is a trained General Practitioner, with a masters in obstetrics, he uses applied kinesiology to explore and diagnose areas of concern by exploring how your bodies energy reacts to different stimuli.

So what did I find out?

That I was lacking protein in my diet. Yes I know, me, someone who often eats steak for breakfast was lacking in protein, but when you take into account the amount of physical activity I do and what my body is trying to maintain it is not surprising. Also when I am battling along with high cortisol levels and a leaky gut, my body is constantly trying to repair, make immune cells and support my hormones.

My Hormones were out of balance, specifically due to adrenal fatigue, my thyroid hormones were being down regulated: If your adrenals are under stress, then you change from fat to sugar as a fuel source at lower intensities of exercise. This makes it harder for you to get fit- this is something I noticed when training for the Round The Bridges run, after about 30-45minutes my heart rate would begin to rise and I would lose control, my body temperature would also begin to rise, this was even more evident on the run itself where after the 6km mark my body went into a shut down mode and I began to get the symptoms of heat stress.

I had leaky gut: this is a bit of a chicken and egg situation as increased cortisol can be a course of leaky gut, but also leaky gut ramps up your immune system and creates a chronic stress on the body, in turn resulting in adrenal fatigue. Contributing factors to my leaky gut were; dairy and gluten sensitivity (all those cereals for breakfast, and snacks, all those sandwiches for lunch and bits of toast after school/uni/before bed), Toxins: in-particular mould (you should have seen the roof of the bathroom in my final year flat, Dunedin days weren’t too much better, thank fully it was often too cold for mould down there), and finally possibly related to my adrenal fatigue, my bodies preference for metabolising sugar despite my low carbohydrate diet was associated with candida over growth: a long history of athletes foot and ring worm meant I was not surprised by this diagnosis and was another one of my motivating factors for seeing Steve.

All of the above meant that my aerobic capacity had become greatly reduced, which may seem as a surprise to many as that is when I’m in my element in training, however as the years have passed that has been more about grit and determination and confidence that I can do it than feeling effortless like I once was.

So what did we do about it?

Steve and his nutritionist Kate Moffat put me onto a dairy and gluten free diet, with some leeway over the xmas period, which I might add I was proud of my self for not over indulging, however this was probably out weighed by an increase in alcohol intake over xmas and new year.

A candida control diet: this actually was quite similar to what I try focus on however some minor changes were needed, I had to stop having peanut butter all the time as well as avoiding cashews, pistachios and peanuts themselves. Mushrooms were out which has been something I have really missed, but otherwise this was mostly how I normally eat, some slightly higher sugar foods over xmas and the as mentioned alcohol would have held up my progress, but I hope the one month prior would have had me well on my way to recovery.

Exercise was to be very heart rate based, any time I felt my heart rate begin to get away from me I had to stop, this meant limiting runs, keeping swimming long and slow and making sure I had ample rest and warmed up appropriately before resistance training.

Meditation: Steve recommended the headspace app and even gave me a 25% off discount code. I use my shatki mat to ground me and focus on Ujjayi Breath, also with Alex getting close to her due date, we have been using her hypnobirthing, Rainbow Relaxation meditation for falling asleep (man is it effective, some nights Im out to it before she even gets to the first colour).

My original appointment was the 22nd of November and I am due to revisit Dr Steve on the 24th of Jan. Its been a great two months and I have definitely noticed an improve in my energy and function, I am excited to see how things have gone and I will be sure to fill you all in in my next blog post.

What are some areas of your health that are bothering you currently? I would love to hear from you as well as answer any deeper questions on the above article.

]]>https://stagryan.com/2018/01/14/whekau-gut-health/feed/0IMG_0724stagryanIMG_0718Killer Bs 2009 Sean Connor Mike Me Marcus JayIMG_0733IMG_0727Mānu- The Float Roomhttps://stagryan.com/2017/09/27/manu-the-float-room/
https://stagryan.com/2017/09/27/manu-the-float-room/#commentsWed, 27 Sep 2017 07:22:24 +0000http://stagryan.com/?p=1434The whirl of colours created in my minds eye transported me to another galaxy, with the vacancy of breath, thought and sound I was free to observe myself from outside of myself.

Ever since graduating from Optometry, I have been on a journey of discovering myself. Instead of learning about anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, pathology and epidemiology, I began exploring psychology… not just the psychology of who I am dealing with in my chair, but who I, Me, Myself is dealing with in my head. In this being, in this heart, in this body, in this accumulation of somewhat remarkably yet unremarkable accumulation of organs, controlled by messengers; of hormones, of electricity, of potential electricity, of proteins and enzymes, of trap doors in cells and microscopic mounds that autonomically run continuously, second after second, day after day, year after year, to give me ENERGY, to give me LIFE.

In 2014, after 7 years of University, after 7 years of trying my hardest to be the best I could be. 7 years of being marked mostly a B, Sometimes a B+, the occasional C, the one beautiful and only time I felt in a true flow state, an A+, and then those couple of disappointing C-s. After all of that, I decided to try and find out what was going on in this head of mine. A head, a brain, a mind that was so banked up with knowledge, knowledge that had been ranked based on a myriad of lecturers and markers and on a whole was classed as merely B! B for Bachelors, no B+ for Honours, just me, an Optometrist, fit to tell people why and how they could or couldn’t see.

“When Prepped well and done consistently over time, it [floating] can still be an extraordinary ‘psychedelic’ arena. By this, I essentially mean coming back to a deeper connection with one’s self” Dan Engle, MD, Tools Of Titans-Tim Ferris

The realisation that I did not know who I was, led me to visit a psychotherapist. With me, he explored my history, my sticking points, my beliefs, and to my relief he did not diagnose me as a mentally ill person, nor was I depressed, merely I had a reasonably severe case of low self esteem. My years of searching to be good enough, of trying to be that little bit better, of searching for the right people, trying to get into the right sports team, be at the right night club, go to the right cafe, drive the right car (or even to own a car for that matter) had created the belief that I was not good enough ever! Even though I would put my best foot forward, give everything my best go, I would inevitably fail or fall short eventually.

“So all of the brain’s searching and gating information from the environment is relaxed. Everything that was in the background -kind of ‘behind the curtain’ -can now be exposed” Dan Engle, MD, Tools Of Titans-Tim Ferris

They say knowledge is power. Knowing where I was tripping myself up, whilst not a magic bullet, allowed me to recognise where I was taking the wrong road. After these sessions I began to do things that drastically improved who I was, allowed me to leave behind my inadequacies and move forward to greater prosperity. From personal development programs, articles, books, RYLA, sporting endeavours and now to reading and finishing Tools Of Titans. I now wake up every day with purpose and hope. I wake up grateful for so much, excited for so much and driven to do bigger and greater things. I no longer find myself looking for what can go wrong and with every day, I live my life with less and less fear.

My girlfriend Alex, often asks me what I am scared of, all I can normally come up with is Thalassophobia; the fear of seas or deep bodies of water such as a lake, pool, river, pond etc. but if I am truly honest, it was the fear of not being enough….

In Tools of Titans, Dan Engle mentions that “you get this bleed over effect into everyday life”. I write this on the Tuesday following my first float on Saturday morning, and for the first time in my life, over 3 years on from those psychotherapy sessions, today is the first time I have understood what my true fear was, and you know what they say, knowledge is power.

If you are looking to explore the incredible experience of floating, head over to The Float Room and book your appointment.

A float is an hour left to your own thoughts devoid of your senses, so you may wish to consider exploring some meditation techniques prior to floating. Natalie will be sure to walk you through the process.

]]>https://stagryan.com/2017/09/27/manu-the-float-room/feed/1IMG_9796stagryanIMG_9836IMG_9269IMG_9239IMG_0643IMG_9001Ahotea: Your Heartache is a Gift that should be exploredhttps://stagryan.com/2017/09/17/ahotea-your-heartache-is-a-gift-that-should-be-explored/
https://stagryan.com/2017/09/17/ahotea-your-heartache-is-a-gift-that-should-be-explored/#respondSun, 17 Sep 2017 07:38:53 +0000http://stagryan.com/?p=1261“A problem is a terrible thing to waste….”

“I think of problems as gold mines. The world’s biggest problems are the world’s biggest Business Opportunities”Peter Diamandis, X-Prize Founder.

My name is Ryan O’Connor and I was born and raised in Invercargill, New Zealand, thus the nickname Stag. I have been involved in many ventures; sports, performing, speech, music, studying in Auckland and Dunedin, from this I have a gained a wide network. However, despite being involved with many people, when it comes to deep and meaningful friends, I have but a few. Not only are these great and dear people limited in number, they are also widely dispersed in geography.

“Life is always happening for us, not to us. It’s our job to find out where the benefit is. If we do, life is magnificent”Tony Robbins

When my partner Alex and I moved to Cambridge,Waikato for my job as an Optometrist, the only people we knew were my older brother and his fiancé whom we moved in with. They soon left to Christchurch, where we had just come from. We were on our own, and Alex was unable to find work in the Waikato for around 3 months and chose to commute to Auckland and work for Air NZ as a flight attendant.

Whilst in Christchurch I went along to a Young Professionals event which consisted of a brewery tour around the city’s thriving boutique brewers and, with the aid of some social lubrication, I managed to shake hands with a number of similar aged individuals. When I saw them in the gym I was able to strike up conversation and play New Zealand’s favourite game of 2 degrees of separation. Having left these shallow bonds behind it was back to square one in the Waikato.

In Cambridge, I joined my local Rugby team, Hautapu Sports but found I was nearer the other end of my 20’s to many of my team mates, so back to the internet it was in search of the Hamilton or Waikato equivalent of the Young professionals …one problem, I could not find such a brand. After a few months living in Hamilton, Alex and I moved in with a colleague of mine who had faced similar challenges when he first moved to the city. Whilst he had built a small group of friends to socialise with at a local pub, he too was in search of more meaningful connection with like minded people, thus we decided, what better way to fulfil this void than to just create it ourselves?!

Shortly after this I went on RYLA (Rotary Young Leadership Award), where I had a week with young, ambitious and like minded people. Here I met some local Hamilton people who, like me, wanted deeper connection amongst the city. From here Gemma Slack, Stacey and myself, set about developing a group that could deliver on this mission. We created a Facebook page to spark interest and quickly accumulated 200 interested young people. From here we quickly found that the Young Professionals market was in fact occupied and that our initial mission to simply connect people had already been tested and retested by another group.

Instead of leaving it at that, and due to communications with this group and my experience of not being able to find them in the first place it forced us to ask first deeper questions of ourselves and second to engage with what was potentially our target market.

Tim Ferris is always finding a common theme with those he interviews. His interviewing itself is an exercise in this common theme: Learn to ask better questions.

What we needed to know was, was my heartache of a lack of meaningful friendship, of connection, of a need to find likeminded individuals something that was unique to me or something that was uniform across the Young Population of the Waikato. Instead of blazingly going ahead to solve a single problem, we chose to engage the potential people we wanted to serve. First, we held brainstorm sessions through people we knew and by inviting people from the Facebook page. From here we chose to survey our assumptions on people we were directly connected with, the feedback we got back was both expected and at times emotional. The level of disconnect, of loneliness and lack of belonging was overwhelming. We knew that what we had set out to do was no longer about us but about the people we were wanting to serve.

“Empathy isn’t just good for life, It’s good for business.” “As a builder, as an entrepreneur, how can you create something for someone else if you don’t have enough glancing familiarity with them to imagine the world through their eyes”Chris Sacca, Lowercase Capital

Unfortunately for me, my other commitments meant I could no longer continue to contribute fully to the expansion of the group. Luckily for me, by sharing my heartache, a group had formed which shared the vision and the momentum created allowed for a change to begin. Watching from the sidelines I have witnessed some inspiring work; over 100 hours of interviews, a new network of sponsorship and mentoring, opportunities for graduates to connect and improve on their city and now a place for your people to belong, to grow and to give back.

It was such a pleasure to be at the Launch of Seed Waikato, it filled me with great pride and I was very honoured to speak on my heartache which sparked a movement, the narrative of the group is so inspiring and what I would like to leave you with:

“It’s been building around the Waikato. And it’s calling for a connected and growing collective of young people, because we all have a role to play in creating a vibrant Waikato. Our home.

We asked you what was missing from the young culture, and you found the missing link. Chances to connect and grow. Find like-valued people. Fun things to do. And events with purpose. You want to hear from inspirational mentors. Have access to empowering resources. Give back to our community.

Seed Waikato is run by young people, for young people. Together, let’s redefine what it means to be a young person. Here and now. We want to challenge, inspire, and encourage each other as we connect and grow. We will build a more vibrant Waikato, uniting the dreamers and doers under a common vision.”

]]>https://stagryan.com/2017/09/17/ahotea-your-heartache-is-a-gift-that-should-be-explored/feed/0IMG_4368stagryanIMG_4670Hinu: Fat for Healthhttps://stagryan.com/2017/07/04/hinu-fat-for-health/
https://stagryan.com/2017/07/04/hinu-fat-for-health/#commentsTue, 04 Jul 2017 10:45:10 +0000http://stagryan.wordpress.com/?p=1239It gives me great pleasure to share with you the article I recently wrote with Professor Grant Schofield for MiVision magazine; Australasia’s leading Optometry, Optical and Ophthalmology magazine, in time for Diabetes Awareness month.

]]>https://stagryan.com/2017/07/04/hinu-fat-for-health/feed/1IMG_7709stagryanhealthy fatsHanga Mate-Sick Dayshttps://stagryan.com/2016/11/23/hanga-mate-sick-days/
https://stagryan.com/2016/11/23/hanga-mate-sick-days/#commentsWed, 23 Nov 2016 07:56:00 +0000http://stagryan.wordpress.com/?p=1175The last two days I have felt like absolute shit. I woke up yesterday morning feeling pretty average and then as the day passed I slowly wained and went home to bed at lunch time. I was running a temperature of 38 degrees, had a splitting headache and my whole body was weak and sore. All I wanted to do was sleep but I spent the arvo in a weird state of intermediate consciousness.

Now, I was lucky I got to go home sick, lets be honest I was in no state to work. However after having my surgery I have no sick days left, that got me thinking, what in the hell are sick days? Worse yet, what are bereavement days?

Do we really live in a world where you are only allowed to be sick 4 days a year? and you are also not allowed to be sick in the first year?

As I still sit here slightly hiding from the pain with the help of ibuprofen, panadol and codeine, I think, why does it have to be like this, I would never want anybody to be feeling this awful and think that they had to “soldier on”.

Companies will say, “oh, but it’s the law.” Well, I say, are you not trying to be the greatest companies in your field, are your staff not the most important part of this company and do you not want this company to have a “family feel?”

The employment contract laws are minimum requirements. Do you, as a company not strive to be excellent? Or just to do what is minimally required? If your family was sick, would you not encourage them to stay home and recover so that they feel better again and can function like a normal human being? Or would you tell them to harden up and that they aren’t allowed to eat while they remain sick? (referring to unpaid sick leave).

Then you might argue: what if someone continually takes sick days without actually being sick? My answer to that is simple and somewhat brutal…if the employee doesn’t want to be at work then they do not believe what the company believes and are therefore not a good fit for the business. The employee will be compromising other areas of their work, and therefore your business. Perhaps an honest conversation about them as an employee and you as their employer will move things positively forward.

Believe in your employees and they will believe in you!

Having recently completed Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why, any decision your company makes should align with why you operate as a company. Is your vision to be the greatest or is it to do the minimum required? Is it to treat each other as individuals and with respect, or to box everyone into the category of a robot?

If you want your employees to buy into the vision of your company, to believe what you believe, ensure your actions as a company provide support to your employees and reflect your beliefs. Then we can have true work-life balance and live healthy, happy and prosperous lives many companies are capable of offering.

]]>https://stagryan.com/2016/11/23/hanga-mate-sick-days/feed/1img_5294stagryanimg_5288img_5293img_5291img_5290Rahunga: Failure is feedbackhttps://stagryan.com/2016/11/06/rahunga-failure-is-feedback/
https://stagryan.com/2016/11/06/rahunga-failure-is-feedback/#commentsSun, 06 Nov 2016 05:02:48 +0000http://stagryan.wordpress.com/?p=1081My last two rugby seasons I have been lucky enough to be a part of a side that has managed to go all the way. In 2015, we lost one of our qualifying matches and just scraped into the semi finals; it was a blessing. It hardened us, and 3 weeks later in our final, our unity, desire and resolve meant we were the successful team holding up the trophy spraying bubbly everywhere.

Two days after this victory, Alex and I had packed up our possessions and made the move via road from Christchurch to the Waikato to start my new job on the Wednesday (the day after we arrived to our new home). I joined the Huatapu Rugby Club and got stuck into 7s. As a side we did pretty well. In our first tournament we made it through to the cup competition, we won our second outing, but were humbled in the club competition. Unfortunately that was the end of the 7s season and we weren’t able to improve move on from this.

2016 was an extremely successful year for us as a Club. Our Premier side making the Semi-finals, and I lead our Development side to first in the round robin and victory in the Finals. Once again the bubbles were sprayed all over the changing sheds and victory was celebrated.

Being on crutches is both embarrassing and frustrating; they constantly fall over when you rest them against things, you always knock things and people, its near impossible to carry anything and every time you want to go somewhere or do something it is a major logistical undertaking. You feel pretty bloody useless, not to mention the constant reminder from people that “I’m too young to have hip surgery”.

Because I am incapacitated from running for 6 months I thought it would be a great opportunity to share my 7s knowledge and began coaching for St Peters and Hautapu. The first failure was trying to motivate players to work hard, give it their all and want to compete in the tough game of 7s. Despite positive and rewarding trainings I have lost players when it comes to tournaments in both teams on multiple circumstances. Next is playing the game itself. Unfortunately for my young and undersized St Peters side we were humbled in the two pool games we had at their tournament, and for Hautapu we have only been able to muster one game victory so far this season.

Reading this you’d think that all this failure from two years of success would get a man down or stir on depression? But far from it, the pride these athletes instil as they go out their and give it their best is immense. When players and the team start to pick up on what you are trying to coach, improve in their technique or game sense, and as the boys did, score some amazing tries you realise that failure is not the end of the world and massive lessons can come from it.

With each failure it allows you to reflect on how you communicated, on how you and the team prepared, how the combinations were selected, did you supply the person with the tools and you can become a better coach. Like wise the players adjust, improve and sometimes succeed. It also raises determination, desire and commitment of you and the team.

The same with my crutches I have become quite resourceful and figured out alternative ways of carrying things and moving around, as well as having a bit of fun balancing on them tying to nail an L-Sit.

I’m a firm believer that sport mirrors life, it teaches you commitment, collaboration, dedication and how to deal with success and most importantly failure. It also helps to reinforce why I do things; I want to improve lives, my own, my team mates, my supporters, my family and loved ones, my patients, my colleagues and my employers, and most of all those who I meet and interact with.

When you fail you realise that what you did wasn’t for the goal, but was being a part of something, it was the lessons you learnt, the skills you developed and enjoyment you shared.

I would love to hear some of your experiences of when things haven’t quite come to fruition, I know I have many!

]]>https://stagryan.com/2016/11/06/rahunga-failure-is-feedback/feed/4richiestagryanWhāinga- Setting Goalshttps://stagryan.com/2016/09/12/whainga-setting-goals/
https://stagryan.com/2016/09/12/whainga-setting-goals/#commentsMon, 12 Sep 2016 10:00:59 +0000http://stagryan.wordpress.com/?p=961Next month I am getting hip surgery for an injury I have had since 2012 called cam impingement, where the neck of my femur (thigh bone) is too broad and bangs into the socket of my pelvis. When I first injured it I had a tear in the protective tissue of the hip which was quite painful, unfortunately for me ACC decided this was a pre-existing condition so consequently would not fund the surgery and I have finally decided to have a summer off playing 7s and get the surgery done privately.

Being an amateur athlete since before I was 8 years old ( when I went to my first National Age Group Swimming Championships) I have always strived to be the best I could in any chosen sport; I have represented Southland in Swimming, Soccer, T-Ball, Waterpolo and Rugby 7s, My High School in Cricket, Soccer, Waterpolo and Volleyball, and most recently Canterbury in Rugby 7s back in 2015, this year I played Premier Rugby for Hautapu and Captained the Development side to the championship for the first time in a long time, with the lads only losing only one game in the second round.

This passion for excellence has seen me idolise many an athlete; Danyon Loader, Michael Klim and Ian Thorpe in swimming, Eric Cantona and David Beckham in football to Richie McCaw, DJ Forbes and Jeremy Rodwell in Rugby and Rugby 7s.

I had injured myself front squatting too much and my range of motion and technique left a lot to be desired. I didn’t want this to be an excuse and limit myself from achieving the best I could be. Through increased movement I have been able to increase my speed, power and strength over a number of years. Unfortunately the time has come where my hip meeting a sedentary job are starting to cause continual pain not only to my hip and IT Band but the related postures and compensations of my body are resulting in niggles throughout the rest of my body.

So today I decided to be accountable and measured my French Power Lifting Ratio, which is one of the measures the RealMOVEMENT Project base themselves against. I have started a new Instagram with my fitness and wellbeing journey and I plan to train towards improving my French Powerlifting Ratio over the next month before October 11th when I have my surgery.

From here I will have a line in the sand of where I was at prior to the surgery. I aim by having good movement and rare chain strength from the three compound lifts I will also be in a good place prior to my surgery. Of course thats not where it ends; I plan to rehab as close to the 5 months as possible to be back in time for the start of next years rugby season, by then I plan to have a French Powerlifting Ratio that is classed as Advanced to Elite even by the time the season starts, so I am the best version of myself.

Check out the video, I wrote a couple of notes on the totals compared to my current bests, since the rugby season has ended I have not been in the gym much but have been doing plenty of handstands and a few Tabata style workouts, I plan to be closer to my 1RMs before my surgery in October and advanced into the Intermediate category. So please add my other Instagram handle and follow my journey.

What Goals have you got? feel free to comment below and share with friends.

Cheers, Stag.

]]>https://stagryan.com/2016/09/12/whainga-setting-goals/feed/1img_2072stagryanWānanga- Continued Personal Developmenthttps://stagryan.com/2016/08/24/wananga-continued-personal-development/
https://stagryan.com/2016/08/24/wananga-continued-personal-development/#commentsWed, 24 Aug 2016 01:30:13 +0000http://stagryan.wordpress.com/?p=711In my final year of my Bachelor of Science at Otago, my major was Anatomy; I was fascinated by how the body was made up and how it worked. Besides, if I was going to study something in order to gain the marks I needed to get on the path towards my dream Optometry career, then why not study something I am passionate about.

One of the papers I did in this anatomy major was Neuroscience. Our lecturer, Associate Professor Beulah Leitch, was busing telling us about neurons and Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia when she said to us, “A Professor once told me: the more you know about the brain, the more you realise you don’t know about the brain.” It is a statement which I have heard in many forms over the years and always sticks. My understanding of it is this: the pursuit of knowledge is never ending. On the flip side, however, “You now know more than you ever have before” or more simply as Biggie Smalls puts it “If you don’t know, now you know.”

Like Neuroscience, the great thing about my profession of Optometry is there is always more to learn. In August this year, I was lucky enough to go to my yearly continued professional development event (CPD). As an Optometrist you are required to attend or partake in a certain amount of CPD every two years; made up of clinical skills and general skills. My 2016 conference of choice was SnowVision in Queenstown New Zealand, and as the name suggests, involves snow sports. It was full on; lectures from 6:30-9:30am, into snow gear and onto the mountain bus at 9:50am for some skiing/snowboarding and back on the 3pm bus down the mountain for afternoon seminars from 4-7pm. After lectures came the chance to indulge in social happenings, mulled wine and incredible food. When I woke at 5:30am on Sunday morning to catch my Air New Zealand flight home, I was feeling particularly weary and I took half the week to recover.

I feel privileged to be part of a profession which fosters learning and as it is a requirement to practice, many employers across the Optometry industry pay or subsidise the opportunity to partake in further learning. But for me, learning does not simply stop at my profession. My profession is not who I am, it is part of what I do and something I am extremely passionate about but this is the 21st century and no-one fits neatly into a box of their profession and profession only anymore.

Those of you who follow my Instagram will know I’m nuts for deer farming, and at the start of this year completed a Level 3 Certificate in Deer Knowledge from Telford. My dream is to one day own my own Deer farm and restaurant (again, those who see my Instagram will see plenty of food), so as part of fulfilling this dream I am putting in place steps to achieve this goal: Next year I plan to be in Primary ITO‘s first intake of their practical block courses on Deer Farming.

From my interest in Deer farming I have become interested in Healthy Rivers Legislation. With the help of my amazing girlfriend; Alex Pole, we have been in contact with Farmers, Directors and Councillors exploring the impact that this will have on our country and learning more and more knowledge on this. Surprisingly I have found my Twitter to be an awesome resource for this, as many rural publications share information on their twitter handles and a surprising number of young and innovative farmers use the platform to share their lives and experiences, as well as communicate.

Just because you have finished Uni or a qualification and have your expensive piece of paper does not mean the learning has ended. I believe there is a paradigm shift in the world that has come about from the internet and the sharing of knowledge. It’s our time to access this knowledge and use it for good, to be more open minded, more understanding and more accepting of everyone who is out there and that every meeting or opening of a post is a chance to learn. Also, just because we have a particular qualification or work in a particular field, it does not define us and through our ability to learn and adapt, we can continue to explore our curiosity and live fulfilling, empowered lives.

Let me know what awesome things you’ve been exploring, or if you want to connect on the above topics, lets chat!

]]>https://stagryan.com/2016/08/24/wananga-continued-personal-development/feed/1IMG_1298stagryanKatie Holcrofthttps://stagryan.com/2016/07/21/katie-holcroft/
https://stagryan.com/2016/07/21/katie-holcroft/#respondThu, 21 Jul 2016 04:01:34 +0000http://stagryan.wordpress.com/2016/07/21/katie-holcroft/The Endo Journals: Blog #1 Katie, 19, Wellington, New Zealand “It is really hard living with Endometriosis, its difficult trying to get people to understand how you feel. I hate how taboo it still is to talk about reproductive health and anything regarding menstruation, but I do have hope that as the prevalence…]]>

Having experienced the pain my partner goes through she has decided to start a forum getting the stories of 100 other women like her!

“It is really hard living with Endometriosis, its difficult trying to get people to understand how you feel. I hate how taboo it still is to talk about reproductive health and anything regarding menstruation, but I do have hope that as the prevalence of the disease grows there will be more of a conversation regarding endometriosis.”

Katie had painful periods, nausea, UTI’s and felt faint for about 2 years before being diagnosed at age 17 with severe endometriosis. Initially, she wasn’t given any answers, “just me being dramatic about something that is completely normal.” It took her usual GP’s absence and seeing a different doctor, who finally gave her some insight. “I booked in for a doctors appointment with my normal GP who I’d told many times about my pain, but he was sick that day and I had his replacement female doctor, I explained my symptoms…